About us

This retreat is required for all Complete Transmission (“Completes”) participants who have met their samaya requirements for the Semjong practices. These are closed teachings and only open to those who are part of the “Completes” cohort.

About the
Venue and Teacher

Tara Mandala is an international Vajrayana Buddhist community with a home base 7,500 feet above sea level in Pagosa Springs, CO. It is guided by Lama Tsultrim Allione, author of Women of Wisdom and Feeding Your Demons. Lama Tsultrim has studied Tibetan Buddhism under a number of traditional teachers for more than 45 years.In a chaotic and stressful world, Tara Mandala retreat center offers refuge, renewal and traditional Buddhist training through their residential Living Dharma Volunteer program as well as group and solo retreats. Today, opportunities for quiet contemplation are rare, and places dedicated to long-term retreat are even more scarce. Bordered by the San Juan National Forest and Southern Ute Tribal Land, the retreat center is on 700 acres of rolling hills and meadows adorned with many varieties of wild flowers, ponds, and forests. The land itself is a mandala with a stunning peak in the middle surrounded by four valleys. Retreat cabins are scattered across the landscape, and at its heart is the extraordinary three-story mandala Tara temple.

Lama Tsultrim Allione is founder and resident lama of Tara Mandala. She is author of Women of Wisdom and Feeding Your Demons. Born in New England to an academic/publishing family, she traveled to India in her late teens and was ordained as a Buddhist nun at the age of 22 by H.H. the 16th Karmapa. She was the first American to be ordained as a Tibetan Buddhist nun in the Karma Kagyu lineage. After living in the Himalayan region for several years she returned her vows and became the mother of three, while continuing to study and practice Buddhism, particularly focusing on the lineage of Machig Labdron and Dzogchen teachings. In 1993, Lama Tsultrim founded Tara Mandala, a 700-acre center in southwest Colorado where an extraordinary three-story temple in the form of a mandala, dedicated to the sacred feminine in Buddhism has been constructed and consecrated. In 2007 while traveling in Tibet she was recognized as an emanation of Machig Labdron at the historic seat of Machig Zangri Khangmar by the resident lama. This recognition was confirmed by several other lamas, and in 2012 she was given the Machig Labdron empowerment by HH the 17th Karmapa. Biography Lama Tsultrim’s…

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We believe human beings are innately wise, strong and kind. This wisdom, although not always experienced, is always present. Going on retreat is a beautiful way to reconnect to our basic sanity and health. Our aspiration at Retreat Guru is to inspire people to experience authentic retreats and reconnect with their innate wisdom, strength and kindness.